One of them was called ‘Cathedral’ and followed the staff of Southwark for a week last July. It was a fascinating insight into their ministry south of the Thames and I was particularly taken by the eloquence and insight of their Canon Pastor and Sub Dean. During an interview with him he made the point that so often people simply reject a God that actually we Christians don’t believe in. He quoted the articles of the militant atheist Richard Dawkins who, in his mind, attacks a medieval notion of God that the church dispensed with years ago.
The former Archbishop of Canterbury says much the same in a recent book of his entitled Faith in the Public Square. As he reflects on the dwindling numbers in churches, now down to 5% of the population on a Sunday, his analysis is that people haven’t so much rejected Christianity but have ‘parked’ it in a lay by without really understanding or investigating what it is they have so resolutely put to one side.
It’s as if the biggest difficulty for the church is simply that of being ignored.
Simon Hoggart, the parliamentary sketch writer, died this week and Radio 4 interviewed some of the politicians he’d written about. They all said the same – they would prefer to be noticed and caricatured in his column rather than left out and ignored!
For us who are trying to live a life of faith – one we think worth sharing – it’s frustrating to see a general trend in society which automatically rejects God. What’s even more frustrating is that when pressed our family and friends often say this God they cannot worship is one of wrath and judgement, severity and unyielding condemnation – not the God I preach about and not the one we gather to worship week by week and try to serve day by day.
So it’s a real challenge to us in a New Year to grasp every opportunity to speak of the grace of God and live in the love of God – the God we dare to believe in and the one who, we trust, believes in us.
With best wishes,
Ian
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